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Published ahead of print on April 7, 2004, doi:10.1164/rccm.200310-1357OC

Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., Volume 170, Number 2, July 2004, 162-166

A more recent version of this article appeared on July 15, 2004
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Submitted on October 6, 2003
Accepted on April 5, 2004

Lung Function Changes in Workers Exposed to Cobalt Compounds: A 13-year Follow-up

Violaine Verougstraete1*, Alex Mallants2, Jean-Pierre Buchet1, Bert Swennen2, and Dominique Lison1

1 Industrial Toxicology and Occupational Medicine Unit, Catholic University of Louvain, School of Public Health, Brussels, Belgium, 2 Occupational Health Department, Umicore, Olen, Belgium

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: Violaine.Verougstraete{at}toxi.ucl.ac.be.

The objective of the study was to examine the influence of cobalt exposure on lung function changes in workers from a cobalt producing plant and included in a health monitoring program between 1988 and 2001. 122 male workers with at least 4 (median : 6) lung function tests (FEV1, FVC) during the follow-up period were assessed longitudinally. Cobalt exposure significantly decreased over the follow-up period, as reflected by the measurements in air and in urine. The possible association of spirometric changes with cobalt exposure was examined by a random coefficients model, taking into account other potential influential variables such as smoking, age, previous respiratory illness, exposure to other lung toxicants and the presence of Glu69{beta}, a HLA-polymorphism possibly associated with hard metal-induced lung diseases. The main finding of the follow-up study was that cobalt exposure contributed to FEV1, not FVC, decline over time, only in association with smoking. No influence of Glu69{beta} polymorphism was detected. Although the amplitude of the additional FEV1 decrement associated with exposure was relatively small (<20%) compared to the expected decline in a non-exposed smoker, the results indicate that further efforts to reduce exposure and to encourage workers to quit smoking are still warranted.
Key words: respiratory function tests, longitudinal studies, occupational exposure




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